Can Belt and Road Initiative bridge the peace gap between China and Asean?

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to create land and sea connectivity via a global web of infrastructure projects that will facilitate the flow of people and goods. This vision of connectivity is shared by the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) states. It did not come from China alone.Asean countries themselves have ideas about connectivity. For instance, the idea of a pan-Asia railway did not originate from China but from Malaysia and Asean itself. Asean also has a master plan…